Tongues on Fire Film Festival in London

The 12th annual Tongues on Fire film festival in London looks set to be bigger and better than ever. Running from the 5th to the 13th March, the highlight of the interview will be a live interview with Abhishek Bachchan on stage facing questions about his career from an interviewer and the audience. Abhi will also be leading an actors’ masterclass. In addition, Shyam Benegal will lead a directors’ workshop as well as participating in a second interview. Amongst the movies on show will be Well Done Abba, Jaya Bachchan’s comeback movie Love Songs, after which Jaya will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award and Sharmila Tagore’s Life Goes On which also features Soha Ali Khan.

As well as a list of big, big movies to revisit such as Dostana, Guru, Paa and Chak De India, the festival also showcases a number of less well known features such as Jaya Bachchan’s wonderful family drama from 1974, Kora Kagaz.

The outstanding British film Cash and Curry stars Ameet Chana and Pooja Shah. This amazing comedy thriller is about an inept minor gangster with ideas above his station who decides he deserves to be at the top of his chosen profession and then finds himself way out of his depth in the middle of a gang war.

One of the most interesting films at the Festival will be the Afghan film Playing the Taar about a 17-year-old Turkmen girl who falls foul of her husband and her family when she falls pregnant, which the husband alleges is by another man.

Amongst many other movies watch out for the excellent Haat – The Weekly Bazaar, the classics Guddi and Uphaar and the joyously upbeat romance Bollywood Beats.